Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’

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CHICAGO – “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is a well-intentioned blockbuster, a morally and spiritually strong piece about heroism and believing in yourself that bursts at the seams with the kind of striking visual imagery that keeps the little ones entertained long enough for them to possibly even learn something. It’s far from a great film as it drags and meanders to nearly two hours and contains a few awkward child performances, but it looks stunning on Blu-ray and Fox has put together another solid family offering for clans with HD capability.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

After the success of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” which made a stunning $745 million worldwide, it looked like C.S. Lewis’ beloved series would probably make it to the screen in its entirety and challenge “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” for fantasy dollar supremacy. Disney moved the sequel, “Prince Caspian,” to the more-crowded and less-family-friendly summer and it was a disastrous move as the sequel grossed a still-impressive but much-less $420 million worldwide. It looked like there may not be a third film as Disney chose not to continue.

Enter Twentieth Century Fox, who quickly jumped on the third book, hired talented director Michael Apted (“Gorillas in the Mist,” “Nell”), reunited much of the cast, and created a piece that broke $400 million worldwide yet again (on a much-smaller budget) and received mostly better reviews than the second chapter. “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will be no one’s favorite film from 2010 but it is a reasonably strong piece of storytelling hampered only by a bit too little narrative thrust, a few awkward religious allegories, and some weak performances from some young cast members who will go unnamed out of kindness.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 8th, 2011
Photo credit: Fox Home Video

The greatest strength of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is its striking visuals. It has a more daring and consistent visual palette than either of the first two films, probably because it was conceived with 3D in mind but also probably because Apted took a few more risks at a new studio. It feels more like a Fox film than a Disney one and with the aging characters and the intensity of the story, it seems like the studio shift may have been good for the franchise. It looks stunning in HD and the effects are some of the most remarkably seamless of 2010. The sound design is also strong with a fantastic HD audio mix.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 8th, 2011 Photo credit: Fox Home Video

The package comes loaded with special features, all somewhat annoyingly organized into different locations in the story of the film. Still, this is a remarkable amount of bonus material, including a nice variety that plays to different age groups with games for the little ones and behind-the-scenes featurettes for the older ones. The actual package of the release is a bit annoying with a book-like presentation that unfolds to reveal paper housing for the Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy of the film, none of which stay in place very easily. If you let a little one touch this, one will be lost within minutes.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” landed a very-appropriate 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a film with nearly-equal positives and negatives that slides just over to the side of a recommendation when one considers the HD video/audio and impressive bonus material.

I must admit to somewhat dreading this journey after seeing 20 minutes of it sometime before it was released and trudging through some of the other holiday 2010 fare like “Little Fockers,” “Gulliver’s Travels,” and “Yogi Bear.” I’m surprised to report that “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” isn’t bad. If you approach it with the right attitude and admire it for what it offers instead of what it just misses, it’s actually pretty good. Maybe I won’t dread the inevitable production of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair.”

Special Features:
o The Untold Adventures Of The Dawn Treader Animated Short
o King Caspian’s Guide To The Dawn Treader: Legends and Lore of the Great Ship
o Deleted Scenes
o Islands Exploration
o Narnian Discoveries: Friends and Foes of Narnia
o 3 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes Including Battle On The Sea
o Audio Commentary with the Filmmakers
o Game
o Collectible Photo Book
o BD Live Enabled
o Digital Copy
o DVD Version

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com